


Help Me Help Him

by Merfilly



Category: Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Slice of Life, Stealth Crossover, Teaching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-12
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2019-02-01 06:21:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12699147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: The Doctor has run afoul of certain bureaucratic entities, and now it is up to Ace to save him. Will the TARDIS help her do it? Will it lead to more?





	Help Me Help Him

**Author's Note:**

  * For [spokenitalics](https://archiveofourown.org/users/spokenitalics/gifts).



The bulky creatures hadn't seemed like they would be all that terrible, until the Doctor had insulted one of them, and then things had gone downhill.

"Ahh, another species that equates civil servant to civil masters," the Doctor had quipped, and then the running had started. Only, the running in the labyrinthine ship they had been in had gotten them very lost, very separated, and completely frazzled.

At least in Ace's case. She was certain the Doctor was probably making the big beings regret ever meeting him. She skidded around another corner, and there in front of her, with a clear path, was the TARDIS. She had just enough of a lead on the party trying to catch her that she was certain she could get inside without one of them.

Getting her key in hand, she took a gulping breath and sprinted, eye on the keyhole as it grew close enough to be distinguished, and ready to avert if another party intruded.

No one did. The key slipped home without a single fumble, and Ace got inside and the doors closed with a meter or more to spare.

Now she had to get her breath, had to find a plan, figure out how to get the Doctor out of the hot water his mouth had landed him in. That was going to mean being inventive, or finding the needle in the haystack, because she wasn't certain her explosives were going to do the trick this time.

Her eyes fell on the muted light of the control console, and inspiration struck, guiding her to cross to it and lay both hands on the edge. She knew nothing about the controls, but she knew the TARDIS was a living being, and that there was a deep love there between the vessel and the Doctor.

"Not going to call you 'old girl' like the Professor sometimes does," Ace said, even as the muted thudding outside impacted her growing fear and paranoia. "He didn't make it back with me. And I think they put him on a different spaceship. Or maybe the same one but so far away that I… is that you? Are you the reason I can sometimes tell how near or far he is?

"No, never mind that. We have to save him. So, I need you to help me."

More thuds, making Ace force herself to remember that the Doctor had, a couple of times, said the combined hordes of Genghis Khan couldn't break through the doors, and that they had tried.

The console was sitting there blankly.

"Please? Can't you find his key? I swear he mentioned that one time. I have my key, but he has his. So can't you find him that way?"

Still the console sat there, the barest hum indicating that the TARDIS was alive. Ace grimaced… then noted a small light blinking near some of the knobs and levers the Doctor always used when planning out their next adventure. She moved toward them, placed her hands on them, and took a deep breath.

There was a gentle pressure in her mind, a subtle guidance on how far to twist or pull each control.

The TARDIS wanted her to learn this, and Ace applied herself to remembering it. Later, when the Doctor was with her, she'd badger him for lessons, she promised herself. That met with agreement, and Ace was more aware than ever how alive the TARDIS really was. She closed her eyes and pushed the final control so that the dematerialization began… praying the whole while that the Doctor's faith in her and the TARDIS was justified.

* * *

The Doctor had saved the day, as usual, but Ace felt a glow of accomplishment at having been instrumental in it. The TARDIS arriving just at the right moment had thrown the … Vogons? … Vogons into disarray, allowing for the overthrow of their plans.

Now, Ace was lying on the floor, earphones in, listening to music as the TARDIS moved them to the next adventure. They were alone; the Doctor had absconded into one of his workrooms, muttering about beeblebroxes, whatever those were, and 'meddling'.

Something made her pull her head up, to see the screen was showing a perfect diagram of the center console currently. Confused for a moment, Ace sat up and pulled her earphones out, staring at it. The labels shifted from the circular script she had seen on books in various rooms of the TARDIS to plain English, though the words were still long and scientific looking.

"You want me to learn?" Ace asked, keeping her voice low.

A sense of agreement came over her, and Ace moved to where she could see the view screen and the console. Obligingly, the diagram shifted to match the exact view that Ace had. "We can do this," Ace told herself, and felt that little push of encouragement that the TARDIS seemed to always give her when the moments of doubt rose too high.

Very carefully hovering a hand over each set of buttons, the few dials and levers, Ace painstakingly read each control name and what they did, in theory. Having watched the Doctor operate the TARDIS in such a whimsical fashion, she was fairly certain that operations sometimes depended on whim and luck.

The view screen gave an ominous flicker, and then shut itself completely off. Ace, no slouch in taking a hint dropped onto the floor and pulled her headphones back on just before the Doctor emerged in the control room. She reached back up to pull at the headphones, blinking at him.

"Professor? All done with your beetle boxes?"

"Beeblebrox, and that's not what I was doing, so much as undoing his idiocy and handiwork," the man said testily. He then sighed, gave her a big smile, and put his ill mood away. "What have you been up to?"

"Oh, just thinking on things and listening to my music," she answered. "These wireless headphones you gave me pick up some keen music, Professor."

"Well, it has saved my eardrums from that awful racket on that awful boomer box of yours," he retorted, still smiling.

"Boom box! BOOM!" she corrected, but she was smiling too as she stood, steadying herself with a hand on the console. That she stroked her fingers along the edge was no more than a sensory thing in the Doctor's eyes, but the TARDIS knew.

The lessons were their secret for now.


End file.
